Good question! By the way, it’s good to know that the word that is universally used by Judaism when referring to the “Jewish Messiah” is “Mashiach”. This is not a personal name, but rather a word that means, literally, “the anointed one”.
We here at “Just Ask” receive many questions such as yours about what the days of the Mashiach will be like. Here are Judaism’s basic beliefs on this subject based on authentic Torah sources that I hope will answer your question in a comprehensive – yet relatively brief – manner.
We believe that the Mashiach will come, and will not be delayed beyond the time that God has set for his arrival. We wait for and expect his coming, but we do not attempt to calculate the time of his arrival, nor do we attempt to derive from the Torah when he is supposed to come. We believe in his prominence and his nobility and should love him and pray for his coming, in accordance with all the prophets from Moses to Malachi. The Torah explicitly promised that he will come. The verse states, “Then God, your God, will return you from captivity and have mercy upon you, and He will gather you in from all the peoples to which [He]… has scattered you.”
Another element of this principle is that the only one fitting to be a king of Israel is a descendant of King David, through his son, King Solomon. Anyone who disputes this dynasty has also denied the Torah and the words of the prophets, as the prophet Nathan, said to King David, “Your dynasty and your kingdom will remain steadfast before you for all time; your throne will remain firm forever.”
The Jewish people have been in exile for so long that the world has come to regard this as our natural state. Clearly, the opposite is true: to be scattered around the world, subject to the rule of other nations and under threat of annihilation is completely unnatural. The Land of Israel was designated as the homeland of the Jewish people from the beginning of time. To exist independently, free of threats to our existence and secure in our land should be the natural condition of the Jewish people. An author visiting Israel once commented, “The Jews because they are Jews, have never been able to take the right to live as a natural right.”
An unnatural state of existence cannot remain as it is forever. Everything in the universe returns to its natural status quo just as surely as water seeks its lowest level. Therefore we believe that the inevitable conclusion to our long exile is the Messianic Age in which all Jews will return to Israel and live in peace in a sovereign Jewish commonwealth.
We also believe that the concept of being a Chosen People is that we have a special destiny, namely to bring the message of ethical monotheism to the world. We can only be successful in achieving this goal when the full infrastructure of Judaism is in place in the Land of Israel. This too is one of the functions of the Mashiach, to provide us with an environment in which we can fulfill our purpose as a people.
A third element of Messianic times is the revelation of the true purpose of the world and the truth of Torah in such a way that it will be obvious to all people. As the prophet Isaiah said, “For the earth will be as filled with the knowledge of God as water covers the sea-bed.” All the questions that have accumulated over the long and bitter years of our exile will be answered. Why is there is so much anti-Semitism? Why did the Holocaust happen? How could false doctrines dominate the world for so long? In the time of the Messiah, we will look back on all of history and understand with absolute clarity the answers to all the “whys.” This is the meaning of the beautiful psalm that describes the Messianic era:
… Wh
